Ice Bucket
by arcanioque
Summary: Gaara, Kankurou, and snacking on ice cream at midnight. Sand sib fic.


Ice Bucket 

_kankurou,_

_gaara. _

_meant-to-be light humor. _

_hopefully in-character._

_SAND SIB, gen. _

_post-timeskip arc. _

_draft fic, pardon for errors and the likes. _

_Gaara, Kankurou, and snacking on ice cream at midnight. Sand sib fic. _

_-_

Gaara looked down at the small tub-like bucket in his hands quietly. He eyed it for a few short seconds, before bringing it to his nose. He sniffed, and took in the smell of vanilla ice cream. It wasn't his favorite flavor, but it would do, for now. He picked up the huge plastic spoon in his other hand, and dug into a portion of the ivory-fleshed cream.

His eyes flickered, adjusted to the darkness, when he felt a certain depression in the sofa that he sat. He was used to seeing in midnight hours, so it wasn't hard to notice Kankurou taking his seat by his side. His older brother looked a little different without his face paint, Gaara thought silently, as he continued to scoop ice cream into his spoon.

Kankurou muttered a 'yo' to his little brother, before picking up the remote control in his hands and flicking on the TV for good channels to watch. There was hardly anything at this midnight hour on broadcast, so Kankurou 'tched' in irritation as he settled for watching the Muppets Show. Elmo and Cookie Monster was currently singing a duet on some nursery rhymes.

All this, Gaara watched on wordlessly, without many expression passing his features. Then, slowly, almost subconsciously, he pushed the ice cream tub towards Kankurou's direction. Both of their eyes were glued to the screen, and Kankurou took the tub in both of his hands, and began to dig into it quite contentedly.

No words passed between both brothers. Elmo was now singing 'Elmo's Song' on TV. Kankurou kept uttering strings of curses under his breath. Sometimes, he would flick channels rapidly when he got sick of the Muppets singing, ignoring his little brother's quiet, but effective gesture of those narrowed eyes all the same.

And both Kankurou and Gaara had passed the ice cream tub to and fro enough times to nearly finish the contents, even though neither really liked vanilla at all. It was Temari's so-called technique, that was, to buy her brothers' least favorite ice cream flavor, so they would eventually quit their long-time addiction (and very unhealthy at that) for ice cream. It never worked.

"Pass the ice cream." Kankurou demanded.

Gaara narrowed his eyes, then allowed Kankurou to snatch the tub from his arms, albeit begrudgingly. In less than a few passing minutes, when their eyes were on Big Bird and her friends this time, Gaara tonelessly said, "Ice cream", and Kankurou made a sound under his breath, and dumped the tub in the young Kazekage's hands.

"Stop changing channels, Kankurou." Gaara commanded silently, with the cross of his arms, half-way through when Muppets was still showing, and Kankurou was flipping to the Sports TV channel.

"But there's an important soccer match I wanna catch on live TV, Gaara!" Kankurou complained.

Gaara bent forward, and unblinkingly, he yanked the ice cream tub from underneath Kankurou's arm. His brother was hogging it too long for his own good. Gaara drew his eyes together, shot his older brother a look, before scooping up the last contents of the vanilla ice cream. He brought it to his lips, and savored the cool, metallic taste of the spoon and sugary ice-cream against it.

Finally, he glanced down into the empty bucket devoid of furthur vanilla for him or his brother to devour. Gaara stood up, and pushed himself of the sofa he and Kankurou currently sat. The TV was still blaring - the only source of light in their dark, dim and very small living room. Cheers sounded from the set, and twenty-two men in colored jerseys proceeded to appear on the screen. It was Kankurou's favorite soccer team, the one Gaara knew his older brother would go fanatic at lengths to support...versus the team Gaara secretly supported. Only Kankurou knew about that little fact, anyway.

"Ha! I bet you ten Yen that my team will beat yours!" Kankurou challenged.

To which the ever silent and non-expressive Gaara only replied quietly, "I'll go get some more ice cream," and shuffled across to the kitchen to retrieve another tub from the refrigerator.

When Gaara sat down on the sofa by his brother's side again, Kankurou asked, "What flavor?", referring to the ice cream tub currently in his brother's arms.

"...Chocolate." Gaara said in his very toneless manner. Kankurou noted Gaara's fingers were clinging on to the ends of the ice cream tub more tightly than usual. Damn, chocolate was favorite flavor, too.

"Give it to me, Gaara." Kankurou demanded.

"No." Gaara's eyes remained fixed on the screen. His favorite team's star striker was moving down the flanks, and nearing the other end of the field to goal.

"Gaara, dammit," Kankurou insisted, "hand the ice cream over!"

"No." Gaara was stubborn. He sat very still on the sofa, and clung onto the ice cream tub in his hands. He refused to pry his hands off it, no matter how Kankurou tried otherwise to get it away from his grasp.

"Gaara!" Kankurou growled.

A whistle sounded from the TV.

Gaara's favorite team had scored, and he promptly let go of the ice cream tub, only to have the faintest tinge of amusement hinting in his eyes as he watched Kankurou, with tub of chocolate contents in his hands, lose balance, and fall off the sofa.

This was a nice night for ice cream, and TV indeed.

**owari **

A/N:

_And thus the authoress shall apply standard disclaimers as such: Me no own the Muppets Show, the soccer TV channel, nor even Kankurou or Gaara, very sadly and regrettably at that. Nope, not even the vanilla and chocolate ice cream tub that they were sort-of fighting over. And don't ask me what kind of ice cream brand is that 'cuz I have no idea. _

_once again, pardon for errors, this was a draft fic as stated beforehand. _

_reviews are warmly welcomed like ice cream in a tub! (X _

_last but not least, _

_**happy birthday, gaara. **( I made it in time! grins) _


End file.
